Dancing with the Stars, week 2

This week the men did the Quickstep while the women did the Rumba. It's unfortunate that Trista and Louis got voted off, because that means we have to watch Kelly and Alec again next week. To be fair, Kelly and Alec did have the sexiest Rumba. Someone apparently forgot to give the women the other halves of their costumes. (I know that's normal. It just seems unfair.) Critique this time of the choreography rather than the dancers, who performed pretty much in the same order of competence as last time. In the Quickstep, it was easy to see what the dance was about: "dancing while running" as someone put it to me once. Maybe it's because I'm not as familiar with the Rumba, but I couldn't really identify any basic steps; it all seemed to be flourishes. One of the judges commented on this, so I guess it wasn't just me. I was amused by one thing in Rachel did in her number with Jonathan, or more correctly, something she did afterwards. She did a great job with the dance, and the final dip that took her almost to the floor was dramatic and smooth. Unfortunately Jonathan forgot to tell her how to get up from the pose gracefully once the dance was finished. In fact, he should have helped her out of it! Young dancers always have to be told to move like dancers onstage, even when they aren't dancing. At least nobody "adjusted" their costume, if you know what I mean. Cool - pictures of tech rehearsal!

This morning I read in The New York Times about a new ballroom-dancing robot. It's no surprise that it was made by Japanese engineers.

[6-20-05] I'm told that Joey's butt was sticking out during the Quickstep, a real no-no!